User blog:Steph32597s/An Audition
Okay. So while I was on vacation, I did some actual blogging. I felt kinda angry and upset about school, so I figured I'd try to remember why I came to SOA (the art school I go to). This is about my audition. 06:31, April 20, 2014 (UTC) An Audition I was pretty much hated at Monroe High School* (a.k.a. Preppy Rich Kid School). I had made some crappy choices while I went through puberty and those choices followed me to high school At School of the Arts, a vocational school, I figured I’d at least have a chance to be somewhat normal. When everyone was uncool, it was easy to fit in. SOA was an art school for high school juniors and seniors. My idea of an art school: A school for burnouts and losers to congregate They had instrumental music which, in my mind, meant rock bands composed of pot heads. Vocal music which meant prissy, suicidal, bitchy girls. Theater. That one has negative connotation written all over it. Dance (sexy people). Unfortunately, I was talented. I could sing, dance, act, and play piano and guitar. So somewhere, in the depths of my sub-psychotic mind, I figured that it would be smart for me to audition for this art school. So my sophomore year, I gathered up all my courage and decided that I’d play guitar. “Hi, I’m Stephanie Hicks**,” I said, shaking the hand of the Instrumental Teacher, Mr. Joe Jahnigen. I had the first audition of the day. Exactly at seven forty five a.m. That was my first mistake. When my guidance counselor asked if I’d be willing to have the first audition of the day, I was like, “Okay!” in my stupid little manly-girl voice. Mr. Jahnigen was kinda short and he had shoulder length blonde hair. He wore it tucked behind his ears. He had a large nose. But I didn’t notice all that at first. The only things I noticed were his huge hipster glasses and his loud voice. He was relaxed and seemed very comfortable in my school’s library. His composure was intimidating to me. I felt about two inches tall when he smiled at me. “Hi Stephanie. I’m just going to ask you some question about your school and then your music, okay? Just answer me the best you can, because I hate these questions.” I nodded and gulped, fearing for my life. “Don’t be nervous. You’ll be fine,” Jahnigen assured. I tried to calm myself, but I fidgeted around in my seat. “So, Stephanie, how would your teachers describe you as a student?” He asked. Oh gawd. “Well, their first impression would be that I was a trouble maker, since I have a loud voice. But then they’d say I’m intelligent but lazy,” I answered. “ Wow, that was incredibly honest,” he noted with another smile. “Good answer.” I tried to laugh, but it got caught in my throat on the way out. “Okay. Um… Next question is,” Jahnigen started, looking at his papers. “How would your friends describe you?” That would be easy to answer. If I had more friends. At the time, I only had a few friends. Clara and Shelby were my best friends, so they didn’t really get a say. Then there were Becca and Matt who both lived down the street from me. And Keith and Dylan and That One Guy (that’s seriously what we called him). But they were just people I hung out with during the day, not necessarily friends. So I decided to go with nice words for the rude way we had become friends. “Well, they’d probably say that I’m personable.” In other words, I’m at least nice to people before I get all up in their shit. “I tell some pretty bad jokes, but they laugh anyway, so maybe they’d say that I’m funny.” "Can I hear a bad joke?” Jahnigen asked. This whole audition is going to be laughable. That will be your joke. Instead of saying that, I just shook my head. “It might hurt my chances for getting in the school,” I replied. Jahnigen chuckled. “How good are you with computers?” Crap. I thought. I was terrible with computers. “I’m not very good,” I admitted. “But I can learn fairly quickly.” He nodded, marking some things on his paper. “You’re doing very well, Stephanie. Next, I have some music questions. You’ve brought you guitar, so I’m assuming you play guitar.” NO, WAY, BRO! I CAN PLAY GUITAR??? WHOA! I GOTTA TELL MY MOM ABOUT THIS! “Yep!” I responded. “How long have you played?” “Almost five years,” I answered. “How many songs do you know?” “Uh… Err… Well, I’ve taken lessons for as long as I’ve played. I learn a new song every two weeks, or so. So…” I didn’t want to do any math. “Okay, so a lot.” “Yes,” I answered. "What style do you play?” Jahnigen asked. “I don’t really have a style. I play a lot of pop music and contemporary Christian music. I’ve always played whatever I feel like.” “Who do you like in pop music?” “Oh gosh. I love P!nk and Lady Gaga. I learn their music the most.” “O-kay-y,” he said, scribbling on his paper. “So what are you going to play?” he asked me. “Um… It’s actually a song that hasn’t been on the charts yet. It’s called ‘Just Give Me A Reason’. It’s a P!nk song. She sings it with the Fun dude. It will be on the charts in a couple months, whenever Alicia Hart and Nate Ruess release it,” I replied. I couldn’t believe that I had geeked out about pop music. Before I knew it, I’d be defending Justin Bieber and haunting Big Time Rush concerts. Also, let the record show that I knew “Just Give Me a Reason” before anyone else. I learned how to play it in February of 2013 and it didn’t come on the charts until March of 2013. “I’m ready when you are, Stephanie.” I took a deep breath and started playing. I didn’t make any mistakes. I guess I had a bunch of adrenaline built up. I just know that I did an excellent job. Singing was my second choice. I wanted to be a rock star. I didn’t think I could sing very well, but I enjoyed it. My foreign exchange student from the year before, Sofie, always encouraged me to pursue it. So at the end of my Fresh-meat year, I tried out for my school’s select A Cappella choir. I got in, which surprised me. And I both enjoyed and despised my time there over my sophomore year. I sang the Tenor line of one of my favorite Beethoven pieces, Ave Verum Corpus (That translates to Lord Most Holy, people who don’t know any Latin). It was my choir director’s favorite song to play on piano and I already knew how to sing it, so I was like “Oh, what the hell?” I sang that perfectly, too. Five weeks later, I got a letter from School of the Arts. Stephanie Hicks, you have been accepted into the following program(s): Vocal Music I cried for about a week. I was so angry that I didn’t get accepted into the program I wanted. Then, a week after that, my choir director, Ms. Tendam announced that she was retiring. I was incredibly angry. M s. Tendam had told me that she didn’t want me to go to SOA. I told her that as long as she was at Preppy Rich Kid School, I would stay. So when I found out she was leaving, I decided to go to SOA, just to spite her. So, the following August, I didn’t go to Preppy Rich Kid School. I got on one bus, then another bus, then another bus, and ended up at School of the Arts. If my life had a theme sing on that first day of SOA, it would be the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. * School names have been changed ** All last names have been changed. First names are right. Category:Blog posts